WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary James Mattis has extended the deployment of active duty troops on the southwest border until Jan. 31 to deal with the arrival of migrant caravans, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.

The Department of Homeland Security’s initial request was set to expire on Dec. 15, but DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen had been contemplating an extension as the number of migrants massing on the Mexican side of the border continued increasing. Tuesday's move by the Pentagon is supposed to help DHS hold the line against migrants who attempt to enter the country illegally.

Trump initially ordered the military deployment in late October when he warned about a possible “invasion” by members of the migrant caravan crossing Mexico from Central America. The 5,800 troops currently deployed across Texas, Arizona and California so far have mainly built barriers of concertina wire and Jersey walls around ports of entry and transported Customs and Border Patrol officers where needed.

Tensions rose on Nov. 20 when White House Chief of Staff John Kelly authorized the troops to use lethal force, if necessary, to defend themselves or any CBP agents who came under attack by migrants. That order has been questioned because it followed Trump's comments suggesting that troops could fire upon migrants if they throw rocks at the troops.

"I told them to consider it a rifle," Trump said during a White House speech on Nov. 1. "When they throw rocks like what they did to the Mexican military and police I say consider it a rifle."

The situation got even more heated on Nov. 25 when about 1,000 migrants clashed with CBP officers at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in California, leading CBP officers to fire tear gas into a crowd of men, women and children.

Migrant advocates called it a dangerous overreaction against a group of unarmed migrants who were mostly protesting the slow process of requesting asylum at the port, while CBP officials said the measures were necessary to stop migrants who were trying to illegally cross the border while throwing rocks at CBP agents.

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Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen are inspecting troops at the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, even though the caravan of migrants that prompted the deployment is headed to California . (Nov. 14)
AP

Advocates for the migrants say the continued militarization of the southern border is nothing more than a political stunt that ignores the true intentions of the Central American migrants: to legally present themselves at ports of entry.